New Audio Bible App Hits 1 Million Downloads

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Within just five months, an audio-based Bible app has reached one million downloads.

The Bible.is app, developed by Faith Comes by Hearing ministry, has been downloaded in 166 countries, according to the audio-Bible ministry. The free app – offered to iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch and Android devices – combines text and audio. The app itself is currently only in English, but once inside, users can navigate and select audio Bibles in more than 95 languages.

"I am new to the whole 'techy' thing," wrote one Bible.is mobile app user, according to FCBH. "But I love that you can read and listen at the same time. You can have your very own Bible study anytime, anywhere."

The audio-Bible app is an expression of the ministry's Digital Bible Project (DBP), which combines the latest technology with the world's largest digital library of both Bible text and audio recordings. The app advances the ministry's mission to record audio Bibles for every nation, tribe, language and people.

Currently, the ministry has Scripture recordings in 500 languages, with a goal of 2,000 by 2016. FCBH continues to add more languages to the app and is optimistic that this will increase downloads.

"While the Bible.is apps are great at home, in church and on-the-go, we really see them as a part of a larger strategy to fulfill the Great Commission," said Troy Carl, the ministry's national director and architect of the DBP. "We are excited by this rapid growth, and especially the worldwide reach this technology has produced."

Most users of Bible.is are probably also familiar with another popular Bible app, the YouVersion. Created by Oklahoma-based LifeChurch.tv, YouVersion surpassed the 10 million download mark in November. In one weekend alone, more than 100,000 downloads of the app took place, according to the YouVersion team.

The app was first launched in 2007 as an online version and then was offered to mobile devices in 2008. The YouVersion team at LifeChurch.tv in a November webcast said they can see God moving through smartphone devices.

YouVersion, which is free, is available on nine different platforms and in 20 different languages. The most popular platform by far is the iPhone, but the fastest growing one is the Android. There are 23 different reading plans readers can choose from.

"What we see with the app and the number of people talking about it and sharing it with others is we are really seeing what I think is the beginning of a revolution," said Terry Storch, who leads the digerati team at LifeChurch.tv.